by Todd Kirby
“I do what I want, without anyone telling me what to do. And if I want a woman’s company, then I go find one.”
“What about having kids?” Jeremy delved.
“Well now, no offense Jeremy,” Ratchet guarded his words, “but I’m not sure I want that kind of responsibility. Besides, I never really considered myself ‘dad’ material.”
After a brief pause, Jeremy said without looking up, “You’d do alright…”
Ratchet looked up at Jeremy, but Jeremy was still looking down at his work. Ratchet smiled and went back to his work.
When Jeremy’s mother picked him up that night, he told her about the bike. “Ratchet said I could work to pay it off, and he would help me fix it up.”
“That’s great, sweetie.” his mother said. “Now aren’t you glad you decided to learn a new trade?”
That summer was too short for Jeremy, as it always seemed to be. Things were a little different that year though, as it was the first summer he worked during the day. As Jeremy became more adept at helping, and started taking on more responsibilities at the shop, Ratchet began paying him. Of course, every extra dollar Jeremy got went back into fixing up his bike. By September, Jeremy had the bike running and Ratchet began teaching him how to ride. Fortunately, the few minor spills he had were long before paint and chrome, so the damage done to the bike was easily fixed.
In the meantime, Jeremy was picking up other skills from Ratchet. Ratchet taught him how to throw a punch and how to take one. He taught him how talk to girls and how to conduct business. The more he learned from Ratchet, the less Jeremy thought about Jesus and the things Mrs. Berry had taught him. He had quit singing with the varsity group at school, and started hanging out with a different crowd. One day at school he ran into Allison in the hall, and she tried to talk to him about it.
“Jeremy,” she began, “why did you quit singing?”
Jeremy seemed a little uncomfortable answering, but eventually said, “Ah, you know… I’m just into other things right now.”
“You have a beautiful voice,” Allison continued. “I remember when you used to sing in church, back before Mrs. Berry passed away.”
“How did you know I used to sing in church?” Jeremy wondered out loud. “And how do you know Mrs. Berry?”
Allison smiled, “Well, I guess I didn’t make much of an impression back then, but I was in children’s choir with you.”
Jeremy searched his memory, but came up blank. As he considered it though, Jeremy didn’t really remember any of the kids he sang with in church. The only time he saw them was on Wednesday evening or Sunday morning, and he wasn’t really the social type anyway. “I kind of remember you…” he lied.
“Well, I remember you really well.” Allison said. “My momma always used to say that your voice was a gift from God, it was just a shame that you…” Her voice trailed off, as if she knew that what she was about to say was inappropriate.
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed a little and an odd smile came across his lips. “A shame that I what?” he said. “A shame that I didn’t have a ‘normal’ family? A shame that a neighbor had to bring me to church? A shame that I wasn’t like you?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Allison tried to recover.
“You know Allison,” Jeremy said, “I think you’re kind of cute. I would love to ask you out some time, it’s just a shame that you’re not like me.”
Allison looked down at the floor, at a loss for anything to say. Jeremy just shook his head and walked away. He would later remember that exchange as a turning point in his spirituality. He was wandering further away from Mrs. Berry’s teaching, and Christians seemed to be less and less the type of people he wanted to be involved with.
In the spring of his sophomore year, Jeremy turned sixteen and got his license. His mother had left a card on the table from the night before. It was kind of mushy, something about “growing up” and “proud of the man you’re becoming”, and it had a $20 bill in it. Jeremy put the bill in his wallet and set the card on his nightstand. He would have thrown it away, but he didn’t want to hurt his mother’s feelings, so he set it out where he knew she would see that he read it.
School that day was a bit odd, Jeremy felt more confident for some reason. He held his head high and walked confidently through the halls. As he rounded a corner, he saw Jenny Mahoney leaning against a locker, talking to a jock. As he walked past, he smiled at her… and she smiled back. Then the jock yelled, “Hey, grease monkey, what are you smiling about?”
Jeremy stopped. He turned around and walked right up to Jenny in front of the jock and said, “I think you’re beautiful, and I’d like to take you out sometime and treat you like you deserve to be treated.” Then he turned to the jock and, tapping him on the chest said, “Sorry to interrupt bro, go ahead…” Then Jeremy winked at Jenny and walked away. Jenny’s eyes got wide, and she tried to bite her lip to keep from smiling at the sudden humor of the situation. The jock looked at Jeremy like he had three heads, but the only words he could muster were, “What the...?”
When he got to the shop after school, Jeremy noticed Skeeter’s truck and trailer in the parking lot. Skeeter did paint and chrome for Ratchet, so he must have just finished a job. He always did amazing work, a real artist, so Jeremy was excited to see what he brought by today. There were also several bikes parked in front of the shop, but that was nothing unusual since Ratchet’s biker friends stopped by all the time.
Once Jeremy got into the shop though, he could tell something was up. Ratchet was on the floor next to a bike he was working on, but about twelve of his friends were standing over by Jeremy’s corner in a crowd. Ratchet looked up at Jeremy with his hands full of grease and said, “Hey kid, grab me a three eighths inch socket, will ya?”
Jeremy went over to his corner to get the tool and as the crowd parted, he saw his bike. Only Jeremy wasn’t sure it was his bike. It looked like his bike, but it had been chromed and painted a bright, beautiful metal flake orange with white flames. Jeremy turned around to look at Ratchet with his jaw dropped open. “Is that mine?” he asked.
“Well it’s too ugly for me to ride, if that’s what you’re asking…” Ratchet replied with a smile. Jeremy looked back at the bike, still in shock. Suddenly the biker girls all ran up and gave him kisses saying “Happy Birthday Sweetie!” and “Sweet Sixteen!”.
Jeremy looked up at Skeeter and said, “It’s beautiful Skeeter, it’s just… wow.”
“Thanks kid, I was hoping you’d like it.” Skeeter said in return. “We all pitched in, Happy Birthday.”
Ratchet stood up, grabbed a rag and walked over to where Jeremy was. As Jeremy was running his hand over the paint and chrome, Ratchet began wiping the grease and dirt off his hands and said, “Well don’t just stand there touching it kid, start her up and take her for a ride.”
Jeremy mounted the bike and put the keys in the ignition. He paused for a moment to smile at Ratchet, then turned the key. As the engine roared to life, the crowd of bikers erupted with approval. Jeremy gave it a little gas and smiled at the sound.
One of the biker girls came over and said, “I almost forgot, these are for you too…” and handed him a pair of sunglasses with orange rally stripes on the side. As Jeremy put them on, the girl smiled and said, “You look great kid.”
Jeremy put the bike in gear and slowly wheeled out to the road. When he saw that the road was clear, he pulled out and gave it the gas. The engine wound out as he took it through the gears, Jeremy was in heaven. He rode down by the school where the football team was practicing. As he passed slowly by the practice field, he noticed everyone looking at him. He tried his best to keep a straight face, even though he really wanted to smile. Jeremy figured one pass by was enough, and he rode on back to Ratchet’s shop.
Pulling into the parking lot, Jeremy rode on up and parked his bike out front with the others. As he wa
s getting off, Skeeter said, “You’re coming out with us tonight, aren’t you kid?”
But Ratchet was quick to say, “No, he’s only sixteen. Let’s wait until he’s at least eighteen to introduce him to that kind of trouble.”
The bikers all patted Jeremy on the back and said, “Happy Birthday” again as they were leaving. When they were all gone, Jeremy said to Ratchet, “Thanks Ratchet, you didn’t have to do all that.”
“I know kid,” Ratchet said, “but I wanted to. We all wanted to.” Then he looked Jeremy in the eye and said, “You ready to ask Jenny Mahoney out now?”
“I kind of already did…” said Jeremy with a smile.
Somewhat shocked, Ratchet said, “Well, what did she say?”
Jeremy told him the whole story about what happened that afternoon and Ratchet laughed. “That’s great, kid,” said Ratchet, “now here’s what you gotta do next…” And he gave Jeremy some pointers on how to get a date with Jenny.
The next day, Jeremy rode his bike to school. As he pulled up into the school parking lot, the kids and teachers were all looking